From the Principal

Welcome to the 2021 school year

Our year has started very well with all students settled into their new classrooms.  For students in Grade 1-6 we have, where possible, kept class groups of students together from 2020.  This is mainly to address the interruption to their year and to remove any concerns students may have had with meeting new classmates.  

New families across the school

Last Thursday our Foundation students arrived and started their journey into education with us.  We have been thrilled at how seamlessly they have taken on the new environment and learning spaces and look forward to getting to know our students and families as the year progresses.  Here are a few snaps from their rooms this week:

Along with our Foundation students we have also welcomed new students and families across other levels of the school:

Cameron - 5/6B

Jasmine - 5/6H

Ester Van Tha Sung - 4HS

Eli - 3R

Max - 2MT

Alisha - 1W

New staff

In 2021 we welcome new and returning staff to Mullum Primary School and take this opportunity to welcome them:

• Kristy Sotiropoulos - Grade sharing with Mathew Knight in Grade 1.  Also our Learning Specialist - Numeracy and part of the Primary Mathematics and Science in Schools Initiative (more information to follow)
• Matthew Knight - Grade sharing with Kristy in Grade 1, working with Kristy on the Primary Mathematics and Science in Schools Initiative.
• Chris Lallo - Grade 4 classroom teacher
• Michaela Bailey - Grade 5/6 classroom teacher
• Mel Shackelford - Classroom teacher working Thursday & Friday in Grade 4HS
• Angie Graffen - Education Support in Grade 5/6 and Grade 2
• Nicole Younes - Grade 3 & 4 Tutor, Nicole has been employed under the government's new $250 million dollar tutoring scheme to support students to fill gaps in their learning, created by disruptions in 2020
• Kate Hickingbotham - Returning to Mullum Primary School as Grade 5 & 6 Tutor under the same program as Nicole
• Barbara Dahlsen - English as Additional Language specialist come from the Blackburn English Language School (BELS).  Barbara will be working with us part time until international borders open up and we can invite immigrants back into the country
• Marg Patching - Newly appointed School Chaplain working on Thursday and Friday each week.

Important new instructions for arriving and departing the school 

Starting next Monday, 8 February, we will be opening up the Panfield Ave gate for students in the following three categories only:

• All Foundation, Grade 1 and Grade 2 students
• All siblings of Foundation, Grade 1 or Grade 2 students
• Students who walk, or catch the bus, and the Panfield Ave gate is their closest gate.

Grade 3-6 students with no siblings, and those who ride their bikes, will arrive and be dismissed at the Mullum Mullum Road gate.

All gates will open at 8:30AM, no earlier.  Please supervise your child until that time. Students will be escorted to the gates at 3:30PM with their teachers.

Parents are required to remain outside the gate and wait for their child on the nature strip or at their car, maintaining physical distance of 1.5m or wearing a mask.

Community Consultation

I have been advised by the Department of Education to consult with the school community in regards to a proposed Maroondah City Council and Mullum Primary School landscape project.  The school has been approached by Maroondah City Council to undertake a project that would include a leasing agreement on the hill on Mullum Mullum Road. The Maroondah City Council requires a portion of the school land on the hill to build a retarding basin for flood waters that inundate Mullum Mullum Road and flood properties south of the school.  The project work is in the design stages and is yet to be approved by the Department of Education.  Consultation is necessary as the work will include the removal of trees, mainly pine trees.  We are committed to enhancing the school environment and will work with Maroondah City Council to prepare a new play space for the children, staff carpark and to plant indigenous trees in and around the work that is undertaken.

I am seeking feedback from our community on the this proposed lease agreement and ask that if you have thoughts you would like to share, I would like to hear from you.  You can email me directly at marie.beale@education.vic.gov.au or you can call me at school.  

Primary Mathematics and Science in Schools Initiative

Very late in 2020 we were notified of a successful application to be part of the sixth intake of schools to the Primary Mathematics and Science in Schools Initiative (PMSSI).  This is initiative is a two year program designed to drive whole school change in mathematics or science.  At Mullum Primary we have already commenced a journey to make some improvements to numeracy teaching across the school so choosing the mathematics arm of this initiative made a lot of sense.  The Department of Education will fund one full time position, shared with two staff members within the school.  Kristy Sotiropoulos and Matthew Knight will be our nominated PMSSI team, they will share the Grade 1 class together and will undergo extensive professional learning, leading the school in a change process.  We look forward to seeing this unpack as the year progresses.  

Tutoring

The Victorian government has committed a large amount of money to support individual and groups of students who in 2020 did not make as much progress as the school would have liked due to COVID interruptions.  At Mullum Primary School we are fortunate to have three staff working as tutors, Kate Hickingbotham (Grade 5/6), Nicole Younes (Grade 3 & 4), Jenny Verheijden (Grade 2).  Our tutors are currently working through a list of students that classroom teachers have identified as suitable for tutoring, starting with reading. Over the next week our tutors will be contacting the parents of those students who will be working in this program.  Tutor sessions will be conducted in a small group of up to five students, inside the classroom (not a withdrawal program), and will work with the tutor for six weeks.  During, and at the end of, that six week period assessments and feedback to students and families will be provided and some students will move off the program while others will stay a little longer.  Here is a snap of our tutors in action today:

Building Update

Well work is certainly moving along now.  I had promised a finish date of next week, however, this is not yet the case.  We are sooooo close, but not quite there.  Here is a few shots of recent works:

Here is a look into some of our new teaching spaces:

School Chaplain

At the end of 2020 we were advised that the school was successful in its application for a School Chaplain.  This was exciting news and we went through a successful selection process and can now let you know that Marg Patching will be joining us on Thursdays and Fridays each week for the next two years.  Marg may be familiar to some of you as she worked for a term at Mullum Primary in 2018.  Marg is very much part of our Wellbeing Team and will be working to support families, individual students and staff.  Marg will prepare information in our next newsletter letting us know how you can be in touch, but in the mean time, if you would like to have a chat with Marg, please contact the school office.

Marie Beale

PRINCIPAL